Christie praises Bournemouth Set Piece Coach after clever goal against Arsenal
Written by
Training Ground Guru
October 21, 2024
Ryan Christie has praised Set Piece Coach Shaun Cooper after scoring Bournemouth’s opening goal in the 2-0 win against Arsenal from a clever corner kick routine.
Lewis Cook struck a low corner from the left, Justin Kluivert flicked it on and Christie then guided the ball into the top corner. Opponents Arsenal have been praised for their innovative routines under Set Piece Coach Nicolas Jover, but this time they were trumped by the Cherries.
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Christie said: “It was a move off the training ground. Credit to Shaun Cooper, [he] does our set pieces. He’s coming up with loads of different set pieces, he has new ones for us to try each game.
“I’m delighted for him that one of them eventually came off and luckily enough it was me on the end of it.”
Cooper made 240 appearances for Bournemouth between 2005 and 2012 and returned in in October 2018 as their Under-13s coach. He became U23s Lead in November 2018 and was then promoted to First Team Coach under Gary O’Neil in December 2022.
Had Inigo Perez been granted a work permit to join Andoni Iraola’s staff in the summer of 2023, then Cooper might well have departed. As it was, Perez was refused a permit and Cooper stayed on, along with fellow First Team Coach Tommy Elphick.
Both have become key members of Iraola’s coaching staff, with the Cherries now in the top 10 in the Premier League. Cooper focuses on attacking set pieces, while Elphick leads on the defensive ones.
Iraola told Bournemouth’s Daily Echo: “For me, it was very difficult at the beginning, because obviously I trusted Inigo a lot. He knew exactly how we wanted to play and it was much more difficult.
“But I was lucky with Tommy and Shaun. I have been working with them very well. I think now we know each other much better. We know, even during the games, everyone is looking at different things and I think we are working well.
“We will continue the same. We will not add any other assistant. I am very happy working with both and we will continue working the same way.”
Set Piece Coaches in the Premier League
- Arsenal: Nicolas Jover
- Aston Villa: Austin MacPhee
- Bournemouth: Tommy Elphick (defensive), Shaun Cooper (attacking)
- Brentford: Keith Andrews
- Brighton: Marco Knoop (defensive), Jonas Scheuermann (attacking)
- Chelsea: Bernardo Cueva
- Crystal Palace:
- Everton:
- Fulham:
- Ipswich Town: Mark Hudson
- Leicester City: Andrew Hughes
- Liverpool: Aaron Briggs
- Manchester City: Carlos Vicens
- Manchester United: Andreas Georgson
- Newcastle United:
- Nottingham Forest:
- Southampton:
- Tottenham: Nick Montgomery
- West Ham:
- Wolves:
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